How to Watch Porn Ethically

While we don’t claim to know everything about the path to a fulfilling existence, we are pretty sure that some part of it involves being a mostly not-shitty human. Which is why we put together this package to make you good(ish). And since it’s only good(ish), we aren’t going to tell you to quit watching porn (because then we'd have to, too?)—we are just going to try to make sure that your “me time” is spent watching porn that’s made as ethically as possible. But what does that even mean? We don’t know! So we called up some ladies in the adult-entertainment industry and asked them if they could help us be good at being bad.

First of all, it's a complicated question. And maybe a too-simple one for a wide-ranging industry.

Crystal DeBoise, Managing Director of The Sex Workers Project: "Porn is interesting because you’re sitting on the other side of a screen, and so you’re not interacting with the actors. It’s almost like interfacing with entertainment in that way. And trying to do it ethically is sort of a twice-removed process."

Stoya, performer, pornographer, and owner of trenchcoatx.com: "It's this greater cultural tendency to talk about porn as though it's one thing...The number of journalists over the last few years that I’ve spoken to, who come in with questions that presume that all straight porn is shot with, like, bleached blondes with very clearly augmented breasts and men who perform as if they don’t really like women very much. And then when I ask them, 'How much porn have you seen?' it’s pretty frequently this shy admission of, 'Oh, I only go to the tube sites'...If you don’t have the access to watch a bunch of it and know what you’re talking about, then maybe don’t assume as fact that Brazzers is all that porn is."

And "unethical" porn may be very different from what you imagine it to be.

Vex Ashley, independent porn maker and cam performer at Four Chambers: "When people think about unethical porn, they think of some creepy guy with a camera and he gets you to do all this stuff and you’re just a helpless little girl, cowering in the corner. A lot of the time it’s more just like: a really fucking long day; and the money you’re getting isn’t worth that; and the guy you're working with isn’t very nice; and they’re keen on anal and you’ve kind of said you don’t want to do anal but they’re really keen for this in the scene; and you feel like you have to say yes, even though you don’t really want to."

How come we never really hear anything about "ethical" porn?

Lynn Comella, Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at UNLV: "I think what makes it different is we live in a society where sexuality is imbued with this excess meaning, so we kind of put all these layers of significance and meaning and value on sexuality, and by doing that as a society or a culture, we automatically treat anything that deals with sex differently. So we don’t really talk about the sex the way we talk about the fast-food industry. Even though we could talk about pornography and the fast-food industry in very similar ways."

Erika Lust, erotic, sex-positive filmmaker behind Lust Films and Xconfessions: "I feel that a lot of people out there are thinking the whole ethical perspective and feminist perspective is for women, and I feel that is completely bullshit. Not at all. It’s for people who have standards and ideas and value and want the same things from the things they are consuming, even if it’s eggs, clothes, or porn."

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Okay, so where do I start?

Lynn: "There’s no Consumer Reports for pornography. You're not going to get the Consumer Reports of pornography delivered to your mailbox once a month, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be an informed consumer."

Erika: "One of the things I speak quite a lot about in interviews is about being a responsible consumer. And I think it’s a very interesting perspective, because society has changed as a whole. I mean, it changed when it comes to food and clothes and furniture and a lot of people out there looking out for the producers. When I go to the supermarket, I look at the package of eggs I’m holding in my hand, check if there’s a name. Is there a farm? Is there some place that makes these eggs?"

And what's the best way to go about learning who made these eggs (read: porn) and how they were made?

Lynn: "You can read interviews with porn performers in mainstream outlets. You can go to YouTube and watch interviews with your favorite performers and hear them talk about their work, the films they make. Follow [them] on Instagram, follow on Twitter, so you get a sense of: Who are these people as three-dimensional people? And what are they saying about their work and their involvement in the industry, their involvement in their jobs? There are ways that you can kind of peek behind and get more of a three-dimensional view of what are the basic philosophies or the mission of this particular production company."

Another option is just to use your head. (The one that's on top of your body.)

Erika: "It’s about being informed and critical and listening to your heart. Don’t only choose with the cock. Choose with the heart and the brain also... Would you watch that film? Do you like what you are looking at? Do you feel that the actors are having fun? Do you feel that they have a connection? Do you feel that they are into each other? Does it feel good? Does it feel safe? I think that actually tells us a lot, just by being honest to ourselves and being critical and saying, Hey, if something doesn’t feel good, turn it off."

Wait, sooo, no kinky stuff? Asking for a friend.

Erika: "When I say respectful way, I mean they are both okay with what is happening. I’m not saying that you can’t do domination, for example. Domination, there’s a lot of people who love power play, in all different forms. That’s completely okay. But you have to see that both people have the same boundaries, and that they are staying aware about the situation."

"It’s about being informed and critical and listening to your heart. Don’t only choose with the cock. Choose with the heart and the brain also."

Can you tell just by looking at the video? Like, the more high-quality ones are probably okay, right?

Lynn: "If you’re on PornHub, for example, how can you tell that this 5-minute clip is made ethically? I don’t know how you do. I’m very cautious, and I would never say you can tell by looking at someone if they’re enjoying themselves. It’s like, no, this is a performance. It is acting. You can still have a smile on your face and be crying inside."

What can I do, then?

Crystal: "If your interest is in workers’ rights—in that workers are being treated fairly and being paid—one of the most simple things you can do to ensure that is to pay for your porn."

Lynn: "Good porn consumers pay for their porn. That’s really, really important. Because if you are downloading for free or going to these tube sites, you’re basically making it harder for companies that want to support performers with good wages to do that… So I would say step up and pay for your porn, because you’re helping to ensure that smaller companies that are committed to some of these labor practices are able to continue making the porn that they want to make."

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Vex: "It doesn’t have to be a lot. It can be a little. But you have to pay for it. Because otherwise people have to cut corners; people have to make more with less money; people have to push people into shooting five days in a row, when really they probably need to take a break and that kind of thing. It’s like with any industry: As soon as you devalue a product, you make it harder for people to make that product well and with good working conditions—and with ethical standards."

"If for some reason you can’t pay for my work, I prefer you either go to PornTube.com, very specifically—not PornHub, not YouPorn, not RedTube—it’s not owned by MindGeek."

But I'm cheap.

Lynn: "People have to be willing to make a commitment to support the kind of media that they want to consume. And also to support a just world. We pay for other things. There are exceptions, but most people don’t walk into Target and load up their shopping cart and leave without paying. Not only is that not ethical, but there’s a word for it. It’s called stealing."

No, seriously, I'm not going to pay for my porn.

Stoya: "If for some reason you can’t pay for my work, I prefer you either go to PornTube.com, very specifically—not PornHub, not YouPorn, not RedTube—it’s not owned by MindGeek. Or use the Torrent sites… It seems to me that largely the culture based around Torrent sites is: Information should be free! And the culture based around Tube sites is: Well, they’re just whores."

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